Connecting and locking puller



F. s. CARTWRIGHT 2,142,494 CONNECTING AND LOCKING FULLER Filed Nov. 16, 1936 llllhqm I INVINTOB 1.; 4557: M I WM WH M ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 3, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to valve pullers primarily useful in oil wells and the like.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide means associated with the travelling valve assembly cooperating with means on the standing valve whereby when it is desired to raise the standing valve for replacement or repair it can be connected to the travelling valve assembly by remote manipulation of the travelling valve assembly, and automatically locked with respect thereto so that the standing valve may be pulled up without risk of its becoming disconnected notwithstanding that it may be necessary to twist and turn the travelling valve in one or the other direction in the working barrel in the act of loosening the standing valve so that it may be drawn up.

Inasmuch as the construction of the valves per so does not affect the structure or operation of the present invention, it is to be understood that the invention is of suflicient breadth to be employed in any situation calling for the lifting of a normally inaccessible member or device by the remote actuation of an associated and substantially axially aligned member.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of the following specification and throughout the several figures of which the same characters of reference have been employed to designate identical parts:

Figure l is a longitudinal elevation of the standing valve and travelling valve assemblies connected, and the parts being shown locked to prevent disconnection by rotation in either direction;

Figure 2 is a similar view, the upper portion being broken away showing the parts in inter-engaged but unlocked position;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section showing the socket on the end of the travelling valve assembly interlocked with the nut on the standing valve;

Figure 4 is a view similar to that of Figure 3, showing the socket in threaded connection with the stud on the top of the standing valve; and

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the lock nut.

Referring now in detail to the several figures, so much of Figure 1 as is embraced within the bracket A is the standing valve and that which is embraced within the bracket B is the travelling valve assembly. Normally, these units are spaced apart about 18 inches in the working barrel, not shown, of the pump or well, the standing valve being at the bottom of the barrel and frictionally held there by means of the packing l. The travelling valve assembly is reciprocated by a rod, not shown, connected to the stud 2. The reference character 3 designates a plurality of packing leathers adapted to make sealing contact with the inner wall of the working barrel. The ball 4 is the standing valve proper confined within a cage 5 having openings between longitudinal bars 6. Between the bars are concave channels I and these play an important part in the invention as will appear.

The structure which has been described is normal to the conventional form of standing valve.

The ball 8 is the travelling valve proper which operates in a cage 9, this construction, too, being conventional. In the normal operation of the pump the oil or other liquid enters at the bottom of the standing valve, which is tubular, issues from the openings in the valve cage 5 above the packing l, enters the tubular bottom ID of the travelling valve, and issues from the openings in the valve cage 9 into the upper part of the working barrel.

The top of the standing valve is provided with a threaded stud H and the bottom of the travelling valve assembly is furnished with a threaded socket I2 adapted to receive and screw upon the stud I i. This function is performed by turning the travelling valve assembly from a point at the top of the well.

It is clear that if this were the only provision made for connecting the standing valve to the travelling valve for the purpose of drawing up the standing valve it would be inefficacious, for the standing valve is generally stuck or corroded within the working barrel and has to be turned and twisted in one direction or another in order to dislodge it from the adhesions so that it can be pulled up. It is obvious that if the connection were a mere threaded engagement like as not the parts would be disconnected in the act of turning and twisting.

The present invention therefore provides a lock nut Hi. This nut is normally threaded upon the stud H before the standing valve is installed in the well and it plays one very important function in protecting the threads of the stud from becoming clogged with silt, etc., or becoming corroded and obliterated. For the purpose of the present invention the lock nut I3 is freely threaded and to prevent its inadvertent disconnection in the continual vibration during the operation of the pump, it is fixed in position by a shear pin Il seated in a bore which passes through the wall of the lock nut and extends into the stud.

Figure 4 shows that the threads I5 on the stud II terminate a distance above the valve cage 5 leaving an unthreaded space or zone I6 on the lower portion of the stud II and just above the valve cage. The lock nut I3 is provided with castellations or the like I1 and I8 at its upper and lower ends respectively, the first named castellations interdigitating with castella 'tions I9 at the bottom of the socket I2. When the travelling valve assembly is pushed down until the castellations I9 interlock with the castellations I! on the lock nut, the turning of the socket will first, in the attempt to rotate the lock nut, break the shear pin I4 and the lock nut will then be screwed down upon the threads I5 until finally it will pass off the threads I5 and drop through the distance represented by the unthreaded zone I6 of the stud II. The castellations I8 on the bottom of the lock nut are designed to interlock with the channels I of the valve cage 5. The width of the unthreaded zone I6 is such as to determine that when the lock nut I3 has dropped with the castellations I8 in the channels I, the upper castellations I! remain in interlocked relation with the castellations IS on the lower end of the socket member. When the lock nut is in this position, it is fixed with respect to the standing valve and also fixed with respect to the socket on the end of the travelling valve assembly so that no relative rotation can take place between these three parts and consequently the travelling valve assembly cannot be disconnected from the standing valve, but may be turned and twisted with imp-unity until the standing valve has been released and raised.

If, when the lock nut drops, the castellations I8 are not in alignment with the channels I, but are stopped by the surface 20 of the valve cage 5, they will fall into the channels and complete their locking action just as soon as there has been sutficient relative rotation between the travelling and standing valve, to align them with the channels I. It will be understood to those skilled in the art that the specific details of construction as shown and described are merely by way of illustration, that there are many types of standing valves to which the present invention may be adapted by inconsequential changes well within the purview of the invention and that the scope of the invention is not to be construed as limited by the precise number, form, and arrangement of the several elements as shown, but by the terms of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. Connecting and locking puller comprising in combination with two normally separated members adapted to be brought co-axially into contact, one having a threaded end and a locking element, the threads on said end terminating at a point spaced from said locking element, the other member having a threaded socket adapted to screw upon the threaded end of the first member for connecting said members, and a nut on said threaded end, said members being so positioned as to let the nut move gravitationally when otherwise unrestrained, said nut having interlocking means at one end adapted to be engaged by complementary means on said socket for turning said nut by means of said socket, and having interlocking means at the other end engageable with the locking means on said first member, when said nut has been screwed beyond the threads on the threaded end of said first member by the turning of said socket and has dropped through the space between said threads and said locking means, the distance of said drop being less than the depth of engagement of the interlocking means between said nut and said socket, whereby all parts are locked against relative rotation in either direction.

2. The structure of claim 1 with shearable means connecting the threaded end and the nut.

3. Means for coupling two members arranged one above the other, comprising a stud projecting upwardly from the lower member having an unthreaded portion adjacent the lower member and an enlarged threaded end and castellations on said member surrounding the stud, a nut having its opposite ends castellated in threaded engagement with the enlarged threaded end of the stud, a downwardly facing internally threaded socket on the upper member adapted to thread onto the stud and having its lower edge castellated to engage the nut, said unthreaded part 01' the stud being of less length than the thickness of the nut whereby the nut when unthreaded from the stud will interlock the upper and lower members. 7

4. Means for coupling two members arranged one above the other, comprising a stud projecting upwardly from the lower member having an unthreaded portion adjacent the lower member and an enlarged threaded end and castellations on said member surrounding the stud, a nut having its opposite ends castellated in threaded engagement with the enlarged threaded end of the stud, a shear pin securing said nut and threaded part of the stud, a downwardly facing, internally threaded socket on the upper member adapted to thread onto the stud and having its lower end castellated to engage the nut, said unthreaded part of the stud being of less length than the thickness of the nut, whereby the nut when unthreaded from the stud will interlock the upper and lower members.

FRANK S. CARTWRIGHT. 

